Steam Espresso vs Pump Espresso: What Is Your Style?

Coffee culture has been growing exponentially around the world. Especially in the United States, where companies such as Starbucks or Coffee Bean seem to be almost on every corner of the street. Millions of people around the world start their day with a cup of coffee. No wonder that techniques of making it evolved over time with new equipment entering the market. All of this contributed to that making coffee can be both an art and science. There are hundreds of different coffee machines that you can choose from that can create unique taste of a coffee. They are also divided into different categories of coffee making such as latte and espresso. Some machines might specialize in cappuccino while other ones in Mocha. For people who are fond of espresso there are also multiple of choices when it comes to preparing coffee. You can either go with steam or pump machines that will create different shot of espresso. They differ in few aspects that are worthwhile to know if espresso is your thing. So what are actual differences between them?

What Is Steam Espresso?Steam machines are one of the oldest ones you can find on the market. They have been used to make coffee for a while now. As the name suggests, coffee is created through the steam. What it means is that once the water is boiled and hot enough it will push itself through the coffee grounds. Steam machines are usually cheaper alternatives to pump machines, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that you should buy them. There are few other problems that are involved here. With steam machines you usually have to wait till it cool downs before you can make your next cup of coffee. Also, there is not enough pressure created through the steam in order to create famous espresso crema.

What Is Pump Espresso?
Pump on the other hand uses different pressure than that from steam. It uses it’s pump in order to inject pressure to the water to go through the coffee grounds. This pressure is more constant than that of steam machines which ensures that your espresso will not be bitter. The only drawback to pump espresso machines is that they can get pretty expensive compared to the steam ones. And the best part is that you can create your true espresso crema with this machine.

Although pump espresso machines are more expensive than steam ones, it might be worthwhile to invest a little bit more in something better. The problem with steam machines is that they create too high temperature of water which results in improper extraction of espresso. This means that you will very likely end up with a bitter espresso.

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1710 Coffee is a companion site to my coffee shop business. It's purpose is to answer popular questions I come across in the shop so that customers have a reliable source for information.

I know the site is looking pretty ugly right now but hey, I'm working on setting up a deal with a local design company to make the site look a bit more interesting. I hope you'll stick around for the coming redesign.

In the mean time I hope you'll take a look at a few of our pages on coffee and definitely swing by the coffee shop for a cup. You can also buy from our online store anytime. Hint, hint!